After an eight-year gap shaped by setbacks, delays, and a complete restart of the recording process, Venom return with Into Oblivion as a statement of resilience and evolution. Speaking with guitarist Stuart ‘Rage’ Dixon (Rage), it becomes clear that what began as frustration ultimately pushed the band toward a more deliberate, experimental, and confident approach to songwriting.
The result is an album that blends raw, old-school energy with stronger structure and atmosphere, reflecting both the chaos behind its creation and a renewed creative momentum within the band. Here is Part Two of the interview, and you can win a vinyl copy of Into Oblivion courtesy of Noise/BMG. Part One is available to read here.
Venom essentially created the blueprint that so many Extreme Metal bands follow now. For Rage, the legacy of Venom is not something that pays on his mind when songwriting, as Black Metal went down a different route when bands like Mercyful Fate and later Celtic Frost followed Venom.
“This was dark, rough around the edges, singing about Satan, being with Satan instead of being fearful of him. The Norwegians, that’s who took up the mantle. They ran with it and took it somewhere completely different. Originally, they wanted the sound to be like that, but then they took on the technical mantle. Amazingly technical.
“Dark Funeral, and bands like that, they took the sort of sloppiness, and they used musicianship and just made it their own. They possibly could have changed and called it something different, but they didn’t. The way I see it, it’s a bit like American and European Death Metal. Both Death Metal, but they sound completely different.
“Deicide doesn’t sound like At The Gates. The Europeans have a bit more melodic edge, whereas the Americans are just straight on brutality.”
With that legacy firmly established, the conversation turns to the new album itself and specifically, the weight carried by its title. However, Rage is quick to deflate any sense of gravitas with characteristic Geordie wit, saying they stole the title from Lamb Of God.
“We’re getting a paternity test to see who the real father is,” he smiles, “and then what we’re gonna do is I think we’re gonna have shared custody, so when our album comes out, they’re going to change it and re-release it with a different name. Then we’ll wait six months and do the same. We’re gonna be quids in.”
Jokes aside, Into Oblivion represents a genuine creative landmark for the band. The song Into Oblivion was one of the first ones on the demo. “It’s really trying to put a lot of melody and a lot of harmonies in,” Rage says. “We’re only a three-piece, one guitarist, and a lot of people might shy away from that and go, well, we can’t do it live. But we’ll find a way to do it live.
“Cronos normally has four or five ideas with lyrics for the different songs. But that one, he said, that’s called Into Oblivion. We come up with silly names. We were thinking about another track for the title, and we ended up going with Into Oblivion.
“Lamb Of God were sitting outside our studio with a glass, and they were like, shit, our album’s coming out earlier. Quick, Into Oblivion.”
I ask if there is a particular moment on the album, like a riff or a solo or a section that Rage is especially proud of and he is straight in with As Above So Below. “I just think it’s my take on a Hate Eternal song, mixed with old school drums and vocals. Me and Danté sang on it. It’s got Latin in the choruses, and then that middle bit. The whole song is like the theme track to The Omen. It almost sounds like Hitchcock in the middle bit.
“I’ve started to, when I write songs, picture them in my head instead of just listening to them, almost like a film track. That was one where it works. Unholy Mother was another one. That was like some weird medieval movie in my head. I think it’s got vocals that are really good. I think the drumming’s really good on it. When I’m playing something, the bass is playing something completely different, and that middle bit is just immense.”
As Rage says, the backing vocals do bring variety across the album, and with him singing the higher lines and Dantéthrowing his menace in, it makes it all the more interesting. “It brings that sort of old school scary vibe,” Rage says, “like Deicide, like the fucking cacodemon and shit like that. Like Dead By Dawn. They’re just words, aren’t they, but it makes them ominous, a little bit more spooky and a bit creepier.”
That level of creative confidence does not emerge in isolation. It is the product of a working relationship that has quietly become the most enduring in Venom’s history. Cronos, Rage and Danté have led this incarnation of Venom for 17 years, the longest lineup in the band’s history. This is a relationship built on mutual respect.
“We get on, and we don’t need to ask people questions,” Rage says. “We know that if we have disagreements, it’s about the music, but it gets sorted there and then. We don’t take it home with us. People don’t get upset. We’re only doing it because we want the best.
“Someone was asking the other day about any tips for people who want to be musicians. You’ve got to get on with people, out of 24 hours, about two hours on stage, if you’re lucky. It’s like 22 hours stuck in hotels, stuck in vans, stuck in the airport. You’ve just got to get on.
“We’ve all got different musical tastes. In ’70s rock, Cronos likes Jethro Tull, I like Humble Pie, Deep Purple and Rainbow. Danté likes all that stuff as well. But we’ve got other music that we listen to.
“We’ve got the same sense of humour. We’ll make jokes and little stories up and stuff like that just for entertainment. We’re like a little gang now. I’ve been with Cronos for 20 years now. You don’t have to be the best musician, but if you can get on with someone, be reliable, write songs, just be good, just dig what you’re doing, and just everyone get on. It makes it so much easier.
“Loads of people go, I’m a better musician, why can’t I be in the band? It’s like, ‘cos you’re a fucking dick. The worst thing in the world is that you don’t want people who weaken us. It’s a hard enough experience, flights cancelled, transport not turning up, places closed, and you need food.
“That’s hard enough without someone being a dick on top of it. So you’ve got to have that gang mentality. It’s happening to all of us, and that’s just what it is. The music’s just the easy bit… Says a man who took eight years to bring an album out.”
Does Rage still feel that Venom sits within Black Metal because it has evolved a lot? “I’m an elder gentleman,” Rage smiles. “I just think it’s all Heavy Metal. I think Exodus are Heavy Metal, I think Cannibal Corpse are Heavy Metal.
“If people want to put them in different little brackets, that’s entirely up to them. There are some bands that have changed so often. People say AC/DC are Heavy Metal. I’ve always seen them more as a hard rock band. The same with Purple.
“It’s all Metal to me. Take Judas Priest. Everyone says Priest started Thrash Metal off, but you know, apart from Painkiller, would you say Priest are a Thrash Metal band? It’s just Heavy Metal, isn’t it? Even Bad News is Heavy Metal.”
I suggest that there are so many sub-genres that it has become a bit crazy. “Oh yeah,” Rage says. “I mean, this fucking, what’s it, Deathcore or Crabcore? It just gets silly. If people ask us, I go, I listen to Heavy Metal. That’s what I listen to, and I put everything under that cos that’s what we call it. Venom were Heavy Metal, Maiden were Heavy Metal, Raven were Heavy Metal. Priest, Black Sabbath. A lot of the time, we didn’t even say Metal, I just like listening to heavy music.”
Philosophy only stretches so far, though. For Rage, what ultimately matters is getting back on stage and Into Oblivion has given the band plenty of live ammunition to work with. Venom hit stages from June, and you should get five songs from Into Oblivion in the sets.
Rage says that Lay Down Your Soul has to be a live song. Death The Leveller, Unholy Mother and Kicked Outta Hell should be there. “They’re all almost recorded live, so anything could go,” Rage says. “I don’t think Legend would work live. I think it’s more of a storytelling song. Some songs are just album songs, and that’s cool. I don’t have a problem with that.”
“Normally we go to South America at the end of the year,” Rage says, “but obviously orange people in different countries have caused wars, so that’s gonna cause loads of hassle. I don’t think we’ll get to South America.”
British gigs are on the agenda, and Venom are hunting down promoters. Naturally, I ask about a Newcastle show. “If we play Newcastle, we want to put on a good show,” Rage says. “We don’t want to just get up there with t-shirts and jeans. I know the fans don’t care, but I think it would have to be like a special, like an evening with.”
Two Venom sets on one night, now that would be interesting. “I keep saying to Cronos, let’s go down to Trillians on a Friday night and just get up, man. Then it would just be people on the phone going, ‘You’re not going to believe who’s here.'”
Closer to home, the picture is more promising, even if getting Venom onto a UK stage involves its own particular set of negotiations. For UK shows, it is about reaching the right promoter. It is tough for most, and the band would need to make money from these gigs.
“Playing gigs for free is alright when you’re just starting out,” Rage says before the Newcastle humour kicks in again. “But I have drug habits to pay for and Ex-wives and 14 children around the world.
“None of that’s true, obviously.
“It’s like when you see on Facebook, please come here. We’re like vampires. We need to be invited. We can’t just turn up. We can’t get across the threshold unless we’re invited.”
If you live in the UK and would like to win a vinyl copy of the new Venom album Into Oblivion, email comp@metaltalk.net with the answer to the following question:
What was the name of the original Venom vocalist, who was nicknamed ‘Jesus Christ’? He performed on their first demo, Demon only.
A: Clive Archer B: Tony Dolan C: Conrad Lant
The draw will take place at 4 pm on Friday, 8 May 2026.
Into Oblivion was released on May 1st, 2026 via Noise/BMG. For more details, visit venomslegions.lnk.to/intooblivionPR.
